Eighth Week (14-18 May) Costume Store Review

 Monday, 14 May: I finally got to talk to Dexter about my pleats, and he told me that the tacking I had done was much too large because the tacking is so small that the tacking has to also be small, and extremely precise, whereas my tacking had originally been quite large and didn't follow the line particularly well, so he told me I should carefully unpick the pleats (there were about 20 of them sewn up already), remove all loose threads and tacking, press them really well, and finally re-tack it all with small, straight stitches all along the line.

Then when doing the actual pleats, it helps to be sure to very carefully press and pin before sewing. Also, you can measure the distance between the needle and find out what is an 1/8" away, because it is very difficult to keep the pleat straight when it is that small, so I measured on my machine at home the distance from the needle to the inside of the leg that sticks out on my presser foot is an 1/8", and it has helped tremendously in keeping my pleats straighter this time around. They are still certainly not perfect, but they are looking much better!

I also continued working on my breeches, and got them to the point of just needing slip-stitching and buttons and button holes.
First, I tacked down button placement flap.

Then, I sewed the calf strap point

and adjusted one of the points to make them match,

and trimmed the seam allowance.

Then I turned the points around and pressed them.

Next, the strap is pinned on like a cuff:

and sewn in place.

After that, I trimmed the seam allowance

And pressed the seam down

then flipped the strap up,

tucked the seam allowance under and tacked and pressed it.

the pressed and tacked straps

Then I moved on to the little money welt pocket on the waistband.

attach welt right sides to right sides along the bottom tacked design line

sew back of pocket to top of welt, press and pull through

press welt up

push top out of way and secure down seam allowance

pull welt through back

trim pocketing

tack welt, sew pocketing together

Then the rest of the waistband was attached

seam allowance trimmed

seams pressed up, trimmed

waistband attached from outside

waistband attached from inside

Then I sewed up the back

and pressed open the seam allowance:

then sewed the waistband backing together through centre back:

and pressed it open:

Then I sewed the waistband backing to the waistband along the centre front and top:

trimmed the seam allowance:

and pressed, flipped, and tacked in place, hiding all seam allowance.

Tacked front of breeches with flap up:

Tacked front of breeches with flap down:

Back of tacked breeches: